Welcome to a new decade

 

Well New Year celebrations are over and we have a new year to look forward to. 365 empty days to fill with life and adventures.

 I wonder what the year will bring?

 

We ended the last year looking after Sass for a few days so the family could go away over the New Year break. She and I went walking and played fetch until she tired of it and dropped the ball and then dropped herself to the floor. I thought I would get sick of it first, but no.

 She watched through the window while my GKB mowed the lawns. She also 'guarded' the house while we went out on New Year's eve for dinner with extended family. Out of town family on my GKB's side were visiting with their new baby, so it was a bit of a meet and greet time as well. An early evening though and we were in bed before midnight :)

9am

 On January 1st we awoke to orange skies - smoke from the Australian bush fires. Very surreal. We could smell the smoke in the air the evening before. The photo above was taken at nine in the morning and not long after we had to turn the lights on in the house. And they remained on all day.

11:30am

  By 11:30 am it was really quite dark. Sass wasn't happy and declined her walk and wasn't keen on being outside at all. We live on the East Coast of New Zealand, at the bottom of the South Island, and although we were expecting a bit of a haze from the fires we didn't expect it to be so bad. Runny, itchy eyes and nose are the order of the day at the moment for most of us.

The Met Service photo above shows the smoke plume in the lower left corner spilling across the Tasman Sea and reaching New Zealand. I know what we are experiencing is nothing compared to what is happening in Australia, it is really quite devastating and distressing to watch. What makes it worse is that some of the fires were deliberately lit.

On the 2nd we had a visit from Alice and her mother who are here for a couple of weeks staying with her daddy's family. Alice is to be baptised on Sunday so that will be another big family gathering - as long as we all get there. Some of us don't know where the church is but we have all been given directions, address and a map! 

So watch this space.

And last but not least, I thought I would show you the cover of the little booklets I made up for the grandchildren and their kids. These are some of the stories my little mother wrote for her grandchildren and I managed to get them ready to give out at Christmas. Number one son designed the cover and I think it looks great. I think Mum would have been pleased with how they turned out.

Looking forward to a year filled with promise.

Best wishes as you go forth into 2020 

Diana

Hello there

Hello all. I know I have been away for a long time, 

and the Christmas season is fast approaching 

so things will not slow down just yet. I do hope to be a bit 
more regular in posting from now on though.

Life has been really busy over the past few months 

so I will try to catch you up a little bit on what 

has been happening since last I was here. 

In September I flew up to Palmerston North to spend some time with my granddaughter and her new baby. It was a lovely time with the new mum and baby and her partner, who was meant to be on deployment with the army (hence the reason for me going up) but at the last moment his deployment was cancelled. Still it let me get to know him a bit better and see how the family unit worked :) They are doing well, granddaughter is a natural mother and just cruising through, asking questions when she needs to. She came back with me for a few days to visit her family.

mothers and babies with a grandmother

On the other hand granddaughter down here is struggling with depression after the birth of her baby. It's very sad as she was so looking forward to being a mother. So on a Thursday I pick her up and we go to "Mainly Music", a group for toddlers and their carers. We have babies from 5 months (our Arlo) up to four year olds, and carers encompassing mums, dads and grandparents. Music, games and food for all. Both Mum and baby are enjoying it. Of course she has other support from other members of the family but I am the one who doesn't work so can be on call, so to speak :)

two proud great grandparents with the babies

Babies seem to be in the air at the moment. We had a baby shower (no pun intended) a few weeks ago for a young lady in the study group I go to. Middle daughter gave me a couple of dozen disposable nappies and said, 'you can make them into a nappy cake Mum!' So I did, once I'd had a look on the internet and found out what she was talking about :) Here's a picture, I hope. (I'm writing on one device and hoping to upload pics from another :(  haha.)

nappy cake

Daughter in law has also had family visiting from Hong Kong and from London so we have been visiting with them as well. That was an enjoyable time and we have invitations to visit. Whether that ever happens remains to be seen, but I never rule out the possibility :)

I've also typed up a dozen of my little mother's children's stories. They are just short ones and were written for her grandchildren as bedtime stories. I hope to get them printed up and give them to those same grandchildren for Christmas. Most of them now have children of their own and I think they'll love them.

Other stuff has happened as well but I think I'll finish off here.

Have a wonderful week and I hope to be back again soon :)

Diana

Hello there

Oh dear, it is almost 2 months since I last posted but I promise I have been busy. And I have called in to see you all now and again. We have had computer problems as well and I'm not sure whether or not I'll be able to post any pictures, but I'll have a go :)

*****************
Our new great grandson, Arlo, has been out to visit. He is growing so fast, it's hard to believe he is nearly 3 months old. Winter is cold and flu weather and so we have been very careful in our visits with him. My GKB has been down with a really bad cold twice this winter so we haven't seen the wee man as often as we would like.

Back in April I showed you a panel from a crocheted blanket that I am cross stitching on. My middle sister made it over 20 years ago but I never got the stitching done. Well now it is completed and flew out of town with my middle daughter yesterday to await the birth of another great grandbaby. Due tomorrow. But they live in the North Island so we won't see so much of this wee one.

When I had finished the blanket I decided it was time to do something a little more relaxing, craft is not my thing, so I have finished a very busy jigsaw. Fun. Although my daughter in law says, "Jigsaw? No way, Mum".  :) Unfortunately it had a couple of pieces missing but that added to the fun, I don't think I'll keep it though.

 

Yesterday I thought I should start going through the boxes of Mum's writings and photo's etc that have been sitting in my spare bedroom  for over a year. Mum wrote poems and short stories, none published, and a lot of them for her grandchildren. Now said grandchildren would like copies so I need to find the ones they want and do something with them. I have a little pile, about six inches high, of folders and notebooks I need to go through. I have up to three versions of some stories so far, not all in the one place either, so I can see I am in for an interesting time. It will be nice to eventually have my spare room back :)

And that is it for the time being. 
I will try to get back a bit sooner next time. 

Until then , keep well.
Diana

A year on

It is just over a year since my little mother went home to her Lord.

That time has passed quickly and she has been on my mind

 at some part of every day since.

 

One of my sisters in Australia sent me a beautiful flower arrangement 'for looking after our mother' in their absence.

They really are rather lovely and lasting well. A lovely gesture.

*************

I've been a bit off colour for the past week with an inner ear thing going on so I haven't ventured far from the house until today. So I thought I'd share with you some of the books I've been reading over the last little while. I 'borrowed' the Ruth Rendell book, Going Wrong, when we were holidaying in Aussie last year and I must send it back. I'd never read anything of hers before and found her rather intriguing, with the twist in the plot that you don't see coming. I've read more since then and that same twist in the plot seems to happen, her style I guess.

I always enjoy Dan Brown, Inferno this time, but with a bit of space between books :) I like a good page turning action thriller occasionally.

Then there is Lost and Found by Marilyn Harris, who I'd never heard of until I borrowed this book as well. Also while we were in Aussie and also needing to go back but this one can wait until next time I'm going over. The story is set in the depression era in the 'American dust bowl', the tale of a little girl who is accidentally left on a train and her long journey to finding her family. Also a page turner.

The ones I have enjoyed most though are 'The Seven Sisters' series by Lucinda Riley. I was a bit iffy about the first book, before I started reading, but now I am hooked. The books all stand alone but having read one out of sequence I wouldn't do it again as it throws things out of kilter a bit. Each book is about one sister, all of whom have been adopted, and her search for her roots. I've read the first four books and so far have been to South America, Norway, Australia and England. Beautifully written novels with a lot of attention to historical detail. If you haven't read any of them I highly recommend them.

A couple of days ago eldest daughter rang to say she was coming over and 'don't buy pumpkin'. No wonder, she had three in the car and left two with me. The big orange one is a soup pumpkin so I may put that in the community pantry around by the grandkids school. I certainly won't be making it into soup. I'll cut the other one up and give some of that away as well. It came from her partner's farm, he likes to grow unusual veges on a plot near the house. These are not too bad but we have been given the occasional strange, to us anyway, vegetable. Or odd coloured ones :) And usually enormous!

Winter has arrived with a vengeance this week, perhaps I should make that pumpkin into soup ;(

Until next time

Diana

Mum

I would like to pay a tribute to my little mother before I go on with my blogging journey.

************

Mum was named Dawn because she was born as the sun rose one summers morning. She was a frail baby and was sustained by my Grandmother  massaging her with olive oil several times a day until she was strong enough to tolerate some condensed milk. And this she lived on for quite some time. In spite of all this she was a happy child and her father always called her smiler. She was always a battler, she had to be. She married young but by the age of 22 was separated with four children under the age of 5 - one set of twins there :) Later she remarried and 2 more boys were born and we were a happy family.

Mum supported all her kids in their sports, clubs, dreams and hopes and enabled us all to pursue the careers of our choice, even though at times it meant some hardship for her. She  had no favourites but woe betide any daughter who dared to criticize one of her sons! Mum dearly loved all her grandkids and her great grandkids and was proud of them all - she always said the only thing wrong with the kids was the adults with short memories.

Mum enjoyed knitting, sewing, baking, jam and pickle making and was good at it all, kept us all well clothed and fed :) A real homemaker. She put down her knitting needles for the last time in her late 70's after knitting an intricate shawl for one of the new babies.

Later in life she began going to church and developed a simple but deep faith which carried her through until the end. She was involved in children's ministry as well as other facets of church life and made some close friends there.

We will miss you Mum, your smile, your advice, your passion for the things you believed in, your chats, your stories. But most of all we will miss you.  

'Til we meet again.

Mum in her mid 20's, a day out at the races with Grandad.

She made the coat and the hat herself :)

A year or so before she became ill, dressed to attend the Cathedral service with the Duke and Duchess of  Cambridge attending.

*******************

I would also like to thank you all for your kind remarks on the previous post, I have appreciated them all.

Marcia, yes unfortunately Mum picked up the blood infection while she was in hospital for a short visit.

A little run of sadness.

I'm just checking in to let you know that although I have not been around it is for a good reason.

My little mother passed away on June 11 at the good old age of 88.

Three weeks later to the day my sister's niece also passed away aged in her early 50's.

Last week a lovely friend of ours died aged just 68.

All three deaths were totally unexpected, even Mum's as it wasn't her heart that failed but she contracted septicaemia and couldn't fight it off.

So we're all just a bit sad at the moment and life is going to be different in the future. I have to admit to being a bit      confused as well for some reason.

But I hope to be back on the page and visiting before too long.

Blessings,

Diana

Two birthday girls

We've had two birthdays in the last couple of weeks.

We celebrated eldest daughter's 50th birthday on Saturday 

with a Mad Hatters tea party. Lots of fun.

Today it is my little mother' 88th birthday, a couple of her 

younger grandsons are taking a fish n' chips tea around for her. 

She loves getting fish n chips as a treat so they'll have a good evening together.

The birthday girls.

Jacqui with her offspring, Caitlin, Monica and Andrew.

The cake, made and decorated by Andrew.

The roses are fresh from the garden.

Roses and owls are two of his mother's favourite things.

Little mother...and a scavenger hunt

For those of you who have been asking about my little mother, she is doing well and talking about going back to her own home at the weekend. She takes care of all her own personal needs and is walking well. She hasn't walked for so long she had to ease back into it and now walks around the yard and up and down the footpath outside the house. I'm sure she will cope well with the help she has coming in and with my brother and me keeping an eye on her. We have a hospital visit this afternoon just to check all is well. Thank you for your care and prayers.

********

I didn't think I was going to get all the photos this month but I enjoy the photo challenge and was determined to take part. Last night I found my final picture. Once again some are from the archives but I think there is only one I've used before. Most are new. I hope you enjoy them.

1:  Relaxed

This is our old boy, Claude, not long before he began to lose condition prior to his death. One of his favourite places when he wanted a snooze. The wood chips under the fern still held the heat of the sun as did the large stones. Very comforting for an old fellow. We miss him even though he has been gone a couple of years now.

2:  It begins with an M

and it's Mum, aka my little mother. She was only young when this was taken, in her early 30's I think, and looking at all the nappies on the line I'm guessing this was not long after my youngest brother was born. It was hard work with all those cloth nappies to wash every day but a fact of life. I rather like this photo of Mum, a peek into life as it was only half a century ago.

(I hasten to add that is not our house in the background

 but part of the neighbouring property).

3:  Time for...

...a hot chocolate on a cold winters day. We'd been out shopping and it was time to warm up. Really delicious and I love the marshmallows on the top to sweeten it rather than using sugar.

4:  Tangerine

I'd been wondering what to put up for this prompt and was going through some photos and spotted a pop of tangerine in this picture. We held a country gospel service at church a couple of weeks ago and one of the singers was wearing this lovely tangerine top :)

5:  It begins with an O

I was trying to think of something out of the ordinary for O. I thought I could look for something 'oresome' as a famous sportsperson once spelt it but then decided to just go for 'ordinary'. So this is my ordinary kitchen table with an ordinary bowl of fruit on it. And of course there are oranges in amongst the fruit. 

It also has some O shapes in it such as the table, place mats, fruit bowl, grapes and cake plate, none of which begin with an O.

6:  Whiskery

This is Missy. Isn't she gorgeous? I was visiting a friend when Missy decided to take advantage of the sun and leapt up on the back of my chair. I was going to put up a photo of one of my brothers, he has whiskers and looks like Santa Claus. Unfortunately he looked a bit cross in the photo I had so I decided on Missy instead. We can call her face whiskery I think, and she's cuter than he is anyway :)

7:  Lace

We went into the Octagon a few years ago to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the gold rush in Otago. Of course a lot of people were in costume and character and my GKB was chatted up by a 'lady of the night'. This is her back view with the  bodice all 'lace'd up. 

8:  Bridge

A road/rail bridge over the Taramakau River on the West Coast of New Zealand. Yes, this bridge is shared by trains and cars, trucks etc. There are barrier arms at each end of the bridge to stop road traffic if trains are coming. We always found it exciting when we were kids and wondered whether the car wheels would get stuck in the rails. When we went over at Easter a new road bridge was being built alongside this so I'm wondering how long it will be before this bridge is no longer in use or whether it will still be used for rail traffic.

9:  Letters

How to be original with this one? This may not be terribly original but while I was thinking about it I realised that whenever I was sitting in the doctors waiting room  I looked at a large wall hanging (about cot quilt size) with the alphabet on it, so I went in and asked permission to photograph it. What makes this a bit unique is that all the letters are orientated to New Zealand flora and fauna, that is why I study it. I always admire the work that has gone into it, all the individual panels have been beautifully cross stitched. People are so talented.

10:  My choice

My GKB took this photo of a goldfinch under our rose bushes. Isn't it beautiful? It was feeding on the chickweed that I had been thinking I should get out and remove very soon. We have never seen goldfinches on the property before and if the chickweed is what is attracting them then as far as I am concerned the chickweed can stay!

joining everyone at:

I live, I love, I craft, I am

for the monthly photo scavenger hunt

Feeling blessed

The phone rang about mid morning. I had won a hamper at the local pharmacy in a raffle for the Cancer Society. I'd totally forgotten I'd bought a ticket so it was a lovely surprise. I really was only thinking of it as a donation. I will have to share it, there is so much there but I'm sure between all the girls in the family we will soon sort it out :)

Later in the day my daughter called in. She had been given sausages, cream cheese, fresh milk and a tray of  quail eggs - all off a farm. There's too much here for me Mum, do you want some?  So of course I said yes. Later my son arrived home and he had been given samples of honey and barbecue sauce to bring home. Yum :)

We had the sausages for tea and DIL has been making cheese cake to beat the band. It is all so delicious.

To finish the day off there was a beautiful double rainbow 

over the town. I'm afraid I didn't get a very good picture 

of it as it was a very cold day and starting to rain again.

It's hard to see the second bow but I promise if you look hard enough you will see it.

*******************

A little bit of an update on what is happening with my wee Mum.

She is still awaiting surgery but her local referring surgeon is so disgusted with the treatment she has had (or lack of it) up 'til now  that he has referred her to another hospital which has also started doing the procedure she needs. We have already heard from them and are now awaiting a date once more but it should come in the next few weeks. Mum has been getting so frustrated at times with not knowing what is going on but now is feeling a lot more positive and her general health seems to be better. Thank you to all who have prayed for her and asked about her. We appreciate you all :)

Diana

Thank you...

...to everyone who prayed while Mum and I travelled this week.

We had a disappointing trip north  - discovered that little mother was not even on the waiting list for surgery, but she is now. It could take up to 4 months before anything happens though. At least the scan happened so it was not a totally wasted trip but very tiring for an 87 year old.

So once more we are playing a waiting game. She now needs to be reassessed regarding living alone. At the moment she is still with me but wants to go back to her own home, understandably.

Here she is waiting in the hoist, or pope mobile 

as they called it, to be put on the plane.

Once again I thank you for your kindness and prayers.

************

Normal service will resume 
next week, hopefully :)
Diana

A family reunion

 Easter weekend saw 76 members of our extended family gather in Greymouth on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. Home for the older generation of cousins and somewhere most of our kids had never been! 

On Friday afternoon we set up the hall. What could have been a big job was made easy when people just kept arriving and we ended up with an old fashioned working bee going. The men got to work putting  the tables up and the women got to work in the kitchen.  Some things never change :) When all was set up it was a quick dash back to our motels for a shower and change of clothes, then back to the hall for our 'meet and greet' evening.

We had hired a church hall and were very impressed with all the facilities provided. Because it was Good Friday we had fish and chips, hot cross buns and whitebait on the menu. This was supplemented with fruit platters and small cakes, with wine, beer and soft drink as well as tea and coffee. One sister, who shall remain nameless, ordered a slab of cake, thinking she would get something big enough for everyone to have a small piece each - it came in a wooden box and took up the entire back seat of her car! She'll take a while to live that one down.

We had a lot of fun that evening, meeting family we hadn't see for decades in some cases and also meeting their kids and grandkids. People had brought their photo's along as well as other articles of interest, the family bible, some iron ore from a mine our ancestors worked in England - the owner had smuggled it out of the mine when she went to see it. The family tree was there for anyone to take copies of and the family historian had interesting letters and other papers to look at. We decorated with daffodils and flags, Granma's favourite flowers were daffodils and Grandad's nickname was Flags, so we thought it was appropriate.

When people first arrived they took a balloon off the stage and had to find the person whose name was on the name tag. I was a bit iffy as to whether the men would take part but I think most of them found a kid and did it with them, that way it wasn't really them playing with balloons :) I loved seeing the big age range. I think the youngest was about 7 years old and my Aunty was the eldest at 86. At the dinner on Saturday night she told us all there was one week and one month between her and Mum, what she meant was one year and one month. We all had a good laugh over that. That's her below with balloons all over her wheelchair. We were all very proud of her as she had a stroke earlier in the year but managed (was determined) to attend most events for at least part of the time.

At 9:30pm when it was time to go everyone pitched in again and it only took about an hour or so to clear everything away and make our way to our beds. Well, those with kids headed to their beds, my branch of the family met up again in my youngest brothers motel and we spent a couple of hours reminiscing and catching up with each other. Two of us live in NZ and the other two who were there are living in Australia, and two didn't make it. My daughters and their families didn't join us either as they had to drive quite a way to where they were staying. We socialised with them later in the weekend. And that completed our Friday night.

Did I say it poured with rain all day and night on Friday? Well Saturday morning when we were due to go to the cemetery to put flowers on our grandparents grave we were still being blasted with torrential rain, the tail end of Cyclone Cook. Those of us who grew up on the coast weren't at all fazed as this sort of rain is quite normal for the area but I think one or two of the younger ones wondered what had  hit them. We had a good turnout of people at the cemetery, mostly the older cousins as we were the ones who spent time with our grandparents, but it was nice to see some of the younger ones there as well. And as you can see, although it was grey and cloudy the rain stopped and the weather continued to get better and better as the day wore on.

My eldest cousin (the family patriarch) said a few words 

and we had a minute silence before  we all went our 

different ways for the rest of the morning.

My GKB and my son and daughter in law and I all went down to the beach which was just below the cemetery. It was cold and blustery but it was nice to relax and take a walk before we all gathered again at Shantytown after lunch. My son takes some quite arty photos and I followed him trying to get the same shots - but mine are not arty at all :( 

And Shantytown is going to have a post of it's own, 

so I think I will stop here and continue another day.

That's more than five photo's and probably not quite

 five minutes of reading but I'd still like to take part in:

Five on Friday

********

I would also appreciate prayers for my little mother as she has been staying with me since Easter and is on complete rest. We travel to Hamilton on Monday for a CT scan (don't ask) and the plan at the moment is that they will send us home again on Wednesday then send us another appointment to go back for her heart operation. We are praying the operation will be done while we are in Hamilton without the need for another trip. We live in Dunedin in the south of the South Island, Hamilton is in the middle of the North Island and we will be travelling for about 4 hours. Many thanks.

Keeping up

Hello there. Sorry I haven't been around for a few days, my little mother has had another short stint in hospital. But I think it was a blessing in disguise as she had one of the 'seizures' she has been trying to describe to her GP right in front of all the ED staff and now they know what she is talking about. In a couple of weeks we have to travel up to Hamilton in the North Island so she can have a CAT scan and then come back and await a date for her operation. Also up in Hamilton. A lot of travelling for an old lady.

I have also been having some very frustrating computer problems resulting in smoke coming out of my ears. Not properly fixed yet to my mind, even though it's been up to the 'puter doctor twice in the past week and has a new anti virus installed.

We have also been working on stuff for our upcoming family reunion and not having the computer going has been a bind. Never mind, we managed to get the family tree put together, mostly, and sorted out some of the old photo's. Also got the welcome pack put together and posted away to various parts of the world. We've had a really good response with approx. 80 people coming including about a dozen kids. So exciting, it's getting close now - Easter.

My grandparents just before Grandad left for the first world war. His photo was taken the day he left home. I think he is so handsome, looks just like my youngest brother and my little mother looks like Granma, who I think is beautiful.

Anyway, today my GKB and I went up to the supermarket and had a coffee break while we were there. While inside a couple of families came in and the kids had faces painted and balloon animals and such like - and then we realised we could have been relaxing at the Party in the Park. It's held annually and very popular. Of course by the time I wandered over, without my GKB, it was winding down but I took a few photo's to show you. Sorry they're not as clear as I hoped they'd be.

Rides and swings for the bigger kids.

Food and craft booths for the older kids.

Relaxing in the sun after the live music

and listening to the piped version. Older kids again :)

And the toddlers playground 

fenced off just for them.

 And last but not least, in fact first in order of what happened last week, I went to see my youngest grandson take part in his school triathlon. He came in about the middle of the field, but I thought he did so well as he did all three legs himself instead of being part of a three man team. So without further ado - Daniel :)

The end of the running leg, he's the ginger.

Leaving on the cycling leg after Mum found

 his helmet which had disappeared.

Swimming, not the greatest style but he got there.

Heading for the finish line after

two lengths of the pool :) Phew.

So a bit of a mixed bag today but I hope you enjoyed it.

Diana

Today I'm joining Amy for:

Five on Friday